And here are Sunday's press releases. You may be beginning to discern a pattern here... Govt urged to give Hong Kong citizens the right to live in the UK Tory MPs must back calls for Dominic Cummings to go, and put fight against Coronavirus first PM's own judgement now in question Govt urged to give Hong Kong citizens the right to live in the UK The Liberal Democrats have called on the Government to reopen the British National Overseas Passport offer and extend it to give Hong Kong citizens the right to live in the UK following renewed police violence ...
Right, here's the first tranche of "missed" press releases, and there'll be Sunday's in about half an hour... Davey: When did the PM know about Cummings breaking lockdown rules? Davey demands investigation into Cummings breaking lockdown Second Cummings lockdown questions PM's judgement and demands inquiry Davey: When did the PM know about Cummings breaking lockdown rules? Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey has called on the Prime Minister to confirm if and when he knew about Dominic Cummings breaking the government's lockdown guidelines. He said: Millions of people have been forced to cancel their normal lives, including important ...
Wallace Lawler won the Birmingham Ladywood by-election for the Liberals in 1969, but lost it back to Labour in the following year's general election. Lawler sounds like a pioneer of community politics, but I have never heard him talked about in Liberal or Liberal Democrat circles. This may be because he campaigning was tainted with racism - certainly that was the story I once heard from some Labour-supporting friends in Birmingham. No doubt I have readers who know all about this. Click on the image above and you will go to a television report on the by-election. It includes interviews ...
Good evening, everyone. Please accept my apologies for the absence of this regular feature for a few days. To be honest, I've taken a few days off to attempt to regain my mojo and, whilst it hasn't been wholly successful, I am at least back. Let's pick up with today's releases, and I'll catch up the past five days as we go along... High time for Govt to extend Brexit transition period PM must instruct Home Sec to lift no recourse to public funds rule for coronavirus crisis Govt strategy must also support people in isolation High time for Govt ...
Hello! I'm Mark Pack, author of 101 Ways To Win An Election, and the maintainer of the largest database of national voting intention polls in the UK, stretching back to 1943. Although most attention understandably and rightly is on other things, the polling companies running semi-regular voting intention polls. Below the table, you'll find the option to sign up to email updates about new polls and also a set of answers to frequently asked questions about political polling. General election voting intention polls Pollster Con Lab LD Grn BXP Con lead Fieldwork Redfield & Wilton 43% (-4) 37% (+2) 9% ...
Yesterday, we provided evidence that China's salami crackdowns are as sinister as a Tiananmen massacre crackdown. ( Article: Fallacy of reasoning from 'crackdown' to actions - The new TianAnMen crackdown) Some have wondered what sticks on Peking can be employed by Britain. The Lib Dem Campaigners for Hong Kong campaign for the Hong Kong Bill in 2 parts - 1. Sanctions, and 2. BN(O) rights. Let us first look at the lighter portion of the bill - #2 BN(O) rights. British Nationals (Overseas) passport holders are holders of a British passport and a British National. Applicants took up the nationality ...
Second paragraph of third chapter: She'd garnered valuable information from the Snark before-in that split second when it had paused, hovering motionless inches above the ground, computing new coordinates-she'd jumped clear and sent it on its unprotected way. Precisely where she was. Precisely what day, month, and year it was. That last had come as a shock. Memories had been swarming more thickly with every passing minute, but now she knew that even the most recent of them was more than a year old. And in the hours since she'd jumped, while she'd been trudging through the snow, she'd contemplated ...
I teamed up with the Lib Dem Pod crew for another special joint episode, with John and Richard grilling me about what's going on in the party. Feedback very welcome, and do share this podcast with others who you think may enjoy it. Show notes The Liberal Democrat election review. Follow Lib Dem Pod on Twitter. Get Lib Dem Pod on YouTube. Enjoy the show? Spread the word Follow the show on Twitter. Like the show on Facebook. Subscribe, rate or review via your favourite podcasting platform – links here. Get new episodes by email Sign up to get an ...
I attended Jim's funeral today at Thornton Crematorium to help celebrate the life of a well known and much liked local journalist, dog lover, bus enthusiast and owner of his pride and joy the wooden boat Manxman. There was a lovey eulogy by his friend Nigel Hughes and a great railway poem reading by Danielle Thompson a fellow Champion reporter. What's more the Celebrant was also a friend of Jim, my fellow Lydiate Parish Councillor Neil Spencer. And to cap it all the Mayor of Sefton Cllr. June Burns attended too. Although only 10 of us were at the ceremony, ...
Social prescribing is a relatively new concept within health care. It means that health professionals can refer a patient towards non-clinical activities that will improve their health, in many cases for free. I first came aware of social prescription in Kingston when our GP referred us both to the Get Active programme, which is a 12 week course under the supervision of a trainer in a local gym. It was free when we did it, but they now charge a small amount per session. GPs in my NHS area can also refer a patient to one of several local slimming ...
I've often been on the receiving ends of advice from experts before having to make decisions. Along the way I've learnt how one of the key precursors to making good decisions is to understand when the expert advice you are receiving differs from the views of other experts – and to find out why. Good experts, giving good advice, have convincing explanations as to why their answers are different. Which is why it was so worrying to watch Boris Johnson flounder when asked why the scientists advising him are recommending people keep 2 metres apart, which is a different distance ...
Responding to news that £53m will be provided for support services to help rough sleepers in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said:"COVID-19 forced the Government to take urgent action to end rough sleeping. I welcome these efforts, but that action should have been taken years ago, as the Liberal Democrats have long-called for. Now we must seize the opportunity to ensure that we never return to the status quo and end rough sleeping for good. "The Government must urgently pass legislation to scrap the Dickensian Vagrancy Act, which unfairly penalises people for sleeping rough. ...
Responding to yesterday evening's press conference, where Health Secretary Matt Hancock stated the government will look into reviewing fines imposed on families travelling for childcare purposes during lock-down, Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said:"The British public have made huge sacrifices over the past two months, losing their freedom, their livelihoods, and in many tragic instances - someone they loved. Ministers' determination to keep defending the actions of Dominic Cummings are an insult to every single person following the lock-down measures in place."The commitment by the Health Secretary today to look into reviewing fines imposed on those travelling ...
Responding to the figures showing that the number of prison staff with coronavirus has increased dramatically, with 873 staff having tested positive across England and Wales, Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperon Daisy Cooper said:"The figures showing the dramatic rise in Covid-19 cases amongst prison staff demonstrate that the government is allowing prisons to become a crucible for the virus."Whilst our prisons remain overcrowded and the government refuse to release all low-risk prisoners, there is no chance of social distancing. This puts the health of both staff and prisoners, as well as our communities, at risk."The government must listen to prison governors ...
This week, a new incubator for liberal startups has launched Liberation inc. Liberation inc. will provide support for a new eco-system of think tanks, new media sites, campaign organisations and other groups that share the goal of defining and promoting liberalism as both a means and an end for the world's crises and challenges. If a liberal message is a breakthrough in the nation's conversation, and even form a popular movement then, in this anti-establishment world, liberals start from a decent 'outsider' position. But it will not be enough to have truth and real-facts on the side. Liberals have always ...
A friend shared a tweet with me from pink news yesterday; it highlighted Layla Moran's coming out story for Pansexual and Panromantic Awareness and Visibility day. The comments on this tweet were a veritable smorgasbord of unkindness and prejudice. There are various themes of hate, the party, the day, Layla herself, trans people. The one that I want to focus on though is the comments that object to the word pansexual. I think these are the comments that are quite likely to seem harmless or even valid to a wider audience. They are not. "Virtue signalling nonsense" "Pansexual? What community ...
[IMG: What midlife crisis in lockdown!] I feel really guilty for saying this but I am enjoying lockdown. The conveyor belt of life has come to a standstill.To quote an everyday...
A Daily Mirror report from 2007 quotes Boris Johnson addressing a meeting of business leaders: "The real hero of Jaws is the mayor, a wonderful politician. A gigantic fish is eating all your constituents and he decides to keep the beach open. "OK, in that instance, he was wrong but in principle we need more politicians like the mayor." It doesn't sounds so funny now, does it?
The Seething Wells Filter Beds is a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation, and it's one of many across the country that needs a change in the law to enable the Council to protect its biodiversity. So we have launched a petition asking Government to 'Give Councils the power to protect nature reserves' Current legislation is a mess, involving the Council, Police, Environment Agency and English Heritage. We think the Council should be the single reasonability authority for all nature reserves, including those in private ownership. The Seething Wells Filter Beds was a Thames Water facility that they stopped using ...
'We're all in this together' unless you are a child with special educational needs.A notice at the end of April told councils they would only need to show "reasonable endeavours" to fulfill their duty in pupils' education, health and care plans (EHCPs) during May. The new powers also remove requirements to meet certain timescales around needs assessments, planning and review processes of plans until September 25. That means hitting the most vulnerable children - delaying them getting the support they need. Now one brave teenager is challenging the government over this. It will directly affect her and she is now ...
Tue, 12:56: Aww, thank you! https://t.co/dKLG83jI8P Tue, 16:05: RT @ivanabacik: Two years on from the 8th amendment referendum, my reflections from decades of pro-choice campaigning. #RepealMemories #R... Tue, 18:26: Seventy days of lockdown, and Dominic Cummings https://t.co/mw7YxXfEln Tue, 18:42: Started Cycle with #cyclemeter at 18:42, on a new route, see https://t.co/Z3cVXPCHxh, Cyclemeter will speak your replies to me. Tue, 18:51: The Accident, by Ismail Kadar� https://t.co/eZkwcSVYy9 Tue, 19:48: Finished Cycle with #cyclemeter, on a new route, time 27:30, distance 6.33 km, see https://t.co/Z3cVXPCHxh, average 13.81. Tue, 20:48: RT @garius: "It's not that I don't like it, Yuri. It's just not ...
Often councils get brickbats, but here's an email from a resident yesterday to one of the Focus Team Councillors. If your exercise has not taken you past the flowers, do look at the verges. All done by taking away the grass cuttings and spreading seeds. A public thank you to the staff who did this - and to the resident who took the time to email thanks, which have been passed on to the staff responsible.
There has been a hell of a lot of takes on the Dominic Cummings affair already. I was hesitant to add my own for that reason. But this isn't going away it seems, so here goes. I don't want to get into the rights and wrongs of what Cummings did and whether he should be sacked or not. What I'm interested in is wondering why Boris has gone so far to protect Cummings. I tried to imagine a similar situation involving either of the last two prime ministers. I attempted to picture David Cameron letting Steve Hilton give his own ...
Someone wrote an amazing article on LDV a few weeks ago, proposing a kind of national transaction tax (I can't recall the precise term he used) levied on every electronic payment made in the country. We must make millions of these across the nation every day for business and personal purposes. Moreover, at the infinitesimally low rate of 0.005% - is that a halfpenny on £100? the decimals baffle me - the product would finance a Universal Basic Income of something like £800 per person per month. OK, it's not enough to live on, the argument goes, but even at ...
Many happy returns to Arthur Harris of Pennycook Court as he celebrates his 100th birthday! My very best wishes!
Today marks the centenary of the official opening of the Logie scheme in the West End - happy 100th Logie! We had planned to have an event tonight in the Lime Street sheltered lounge with local residents to mark this significant milestone and there was to be an exhibition at Blackness Library and in the Central Library along with talks by the Dundee City Archives. Sadly, none of this is now possible at this time because of the COVID-19 health emergency but we do intend to run events like this at a later date as it is important to recognise ...
If Dominic Cummings' appearance in the Downing Street rose garden was meant to put the controversy over his northern odyssey to rest then he badly miscalculated. Already, a junior minister has resigned while more than 30 other Conservative MPs called for Cummings to go, many citing inboxes overflowing with hundreds of angry messages from constituents. A snap poll found that whereas 41% of Tory voters thought Cummings should resign before the press conference, this had risen to 46% after it. The Guardian reports that significant revolts are rare at such an early stage after a thumping election victory, but Cummings ...
West Devon councillor Mike Davies has quit the Conservative Party over Dominic Cummings: The former Mayor of West Devon said: "The lack of a resignation from Mr Cummings, a government advisor, undermines public trust and will now encourage people to break current and future rules. "Following Mr Cummings' lack of foresight to resign because of the impact of his actions, the Prime Minister should now terminate Mr Cummings' employment." His departure means the Conservatives have lost their one-seat majority on the council and it is now no-overall-control. Want to know more about what the Liberal Democrats are doing in the ...
